VACATION!

Well, Kenzie peed on the floor, Oliver's learned to crawl and Mally spent a good part of our vacation testing her greetings ("heh-roh!").  Vacation tiiiiiiime!

We were lucky and blessed to spend not one, not two, but THREE CHRISTMASES together as a family.  Here were some highlights - and even more spectacularly, pictures to document the joyful chaos that ensued!

Christmas #1: Brooklyn; December 17th
Attendees: Me, Doug and Oliver
Ollie's new trick: Babbling
Ollie's favorite gift(s): Remote control car rattle (remote control car is just icing on the cake), UglyDog and the Learn and Play Kitchen (which he pulls down on his face).

What a glorious day! Because we knew that we were going to be spending Christmas Day with the Turks and New Years with the Cooks, Doug suggested that we spend our own Christmas Day at home. It meant NOT traveling with all of O's gifts - a little Christmas blessing.  In order to make it as genuine as possible, we expressed Christmas a bit. We got our tree a few days before, trimmed it up on Thursday and did a few Eve traditions on Friday: gave O his first Christmas gift, ate some pizza and "hung stockings" (which, this Christmas, meant laying them on the floor because we didn't put up hooks and keeping them out of Ollie's mouth long enough to take a picture of them under the tree). Sunday we all woke up eeeeextra early (I only assume it's because Ollie could hardly wait) and opened gifts. O's unwrapping strategy was three-fold: wet the wrapping paper with his mouth for a bit, then tear off little pieces and chew until Mom or Dad notice. When Mom and Dad get bored, wait for Dad to pick him up and "baby wrecking ball" him into the toy, coming up with large pieces of wrapping paper. Oh, and then get Mom frustrated enough to the point where she just tears it open. Mission Accomplished: Present Received.

Christmas #2: Minnetonka; December 22nd - 28th

Attendees: Doug Sr., Kris, Doug Jr., Me, Oliver, Heather, Ross, Lil' McG
Ollie's new trick: Crawling
Ollie's favorite gift(s): Learn and Play Puppy - "Sooooo Big!" and his new Skull and Crossbones sweater. Thanks Baby Gap for the new bad-ass line of children's clothes!

 Highlights:

·    Making a bestie on the flight thanks to Jane Austen and Breadsmith's Cinnamon Rolls.

·    THE ZEBRA! Kris hit up Heather's Mother-In-Law for a wonderful rocking zebra that she was about to sell in a garage sale. We put Oliver on it and WHAM! It was love at first sight. He made an excited noise that we had never heard before. I think I can stop my list right here because, honestly, nothing compares to that zebra.

·    Meeting Santa at Ridgedale Mall - waited in line for an hour and 15 minutes just for me to plop O in his lap, introduce them and pay $25 for 3 pictures. Ah, the holiday bamboozling has begun! Turned out to be a nice wait in line - Doug and Kris were there and we got to know (in one way a little more than necessary) our neighbors around us.

·    Oliver becoming fast friends with Gus Anderson and Korbin Benson. Lifelong, I tell you.

·    Seeing Jessica and Kenzie - new Minnesota transplants - at the Turk Open House and watching Korbin skirt chase Kenzie all night. They even smooched. Hussies.

·    Anderson Pancake Breakfast on Christmas Eve with Nick, Emily, Gus and Chris. DE. LISH. US.

·    Opening presents and enjoying good family time with the Turks and McGruders.

·    Holding little Jackson Taylor - 2.5 months old and AMAZING.

·    Daddy Doug reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to Oliver.

·    Watching Oliver bravely touching the glass every time sharks swam over him in the Mall of America Aquarium.

·    Seeing Lil' McG's nursery is coming along - fabulously!

Christmas #3: Niles; December 28th - January 3rd

Attendees: Marc, Paula, Me, Doug, Oliver, Jessica, Jay, Kenzie, Courtney, Mallory
Ollie's new trick: Moving around after his cousins
Ollie's favorite gift(s): The drum!  "1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3...play with me!"
Highlights:

•    Enjoying some uncommon time with Dad, Mom, Jess, Court, Doug and Oliver when we arrived in Niles after the girls went down for bed.  They all rushed out of the house to see us!...Ahem, to see Oliver.  :)

·    Taking a TWO HOUR NAP with Oliver.  We slept together in the bed and a) we actually slept and b) he didn't fall off the bed!  Miracles do happen, boys and girls.

·    Having a little alone time with Doug at the Barnes and Noble buying some books for Oliver with Christmas money.  Our date also included a visit to Eddie Bauer and lunch at Arby's.

·    Finding out that Doug, Number 850,000, made it into the NYC Half Marathon lottery!

·    Eating and drinking our way through 2410 Weaver Road.  Including some major cookies, truffles, sandwiches, biscuits and gravy, homemade baked beans and ribs.  Holy smokes.  Realization made: Mom could throw month-old brown guacamole on a piece of cardboard and I would think it was about the dreamiest thing to pass my lips.

·    Watching those 3 babies interact.  Oliver would crawl after the girls, who would ignore him for the most part.  Then they’d turn around and pat him gently on the head, whispering, “Hi baby.”  Adorbs.

·    All the kids in their pjs after baths in the evening and after warm sleeps in the morning.

·    A night out with Doug, Court, Jess and Jay while Mom was in her glory watching the kids and Dad quietly pulled out all of his hair.

·    Oliver being equally enthralled pulling on the men’s facial hair as he was playing hard with Ga-ga.

·    Receiving 10-12 inches of snow the day before we’re all set to depart.  See for Kenzie’s first snow experience.  Ollie and I were taking the magic nap at this time.

·    Being able to visit with Ellen and her family, Grandma and Jimmy O (aka Mr. T.)

·    Ollie making himself into a sardine. 

And now we’re back home.  We were able to unpack everything the first evening and relax a little before returning to work.  Oliver now knows where to pound on the drum to get satisfaction.  Tomorrow we get 3 giant boxes of presents and stuff we left behind from each of the houses.  Despite having done a little laundry each day, we came home to buckets of dirtiness.  I don’t know how it happened!